Software licensing with Thales Sentinel LDK

Sentinel LDK, third-party software provided by Thales, is used by us to assign and manage licenses for certain editions of UFS Explorer software.

Depending on the software edition, the following types of Sentinel-based licenses can be issued:

  • Cloud-based License (Sentinel CL). It is also known as a "floating" license. The license is issued for a specific number of workstations and is not bound to any specific hardware or operating system. This means that the software can be used simultaneously on the defined number of computers under any supported OS platform. This license requires Internet connection.
  • Machine License (Sentinel SL). It is issued for a specific computer(s) running any supported OS platform and is non-transferable. This license works in a fully isolated environment and never requires Internet connection. Its activation is performed by exchanging machine fingerprint and license activation files.
  • License on a USB token (Sentinel HL). This is the default license option for UFS Explorer Video Recovery and may be available for other software editions for an additional charge. The license is written to a USB token, and the software can be started on the computer the USB token with the license is connected to. This license is transferable and doesn’t require Internet connection.

License issuing policy

  • UFS Explorer Video Recovery is licensed with the use of the Sentinel HL USB tokens.
  • UFS Explorer Technician is licensed using the Sentinel CL or SL licenses by default, and the HL license for it is available at an additional charge. If this license is bundled with the SAN Plugin license, in this case, it is issued as Sentinel SL or Sentinel HL at no additional charge.
  • UFS Explorer Professional Recovery is licensed using Sentinel CL by default. It is possible to request switching the license to Sentinel SL to work in an isolated environment without access to the Internet.
  • Demo licenses are issued in the form of limited Sentinel SL licenses.

Technical requirements

  • The Sentinel CL license requires permanent Internet connection.
  • Both the Sentinel CL and Sentinel SL licenses require Runtime Environment version 10.12 and later installed and running. The software itself can install the required components of the Sentinel Runtime Environment.
  • The Sentinel HL keys require a free USB type A port for connection. Under macOS, they also require the Sentinel Runtime Environment to install hardware drivers and support communication with the USB token. The software running under Windows and Linux* doesn’t require RTE.

* - If the software is run without ‘root’ privileges, it still requires Sentinel RTE to communicate with the USB token.

License enforcement

The software license is issued for a specific number of "seats". One "seat" means a workstation:

  • the SL-based license is issued for;
  • the HL USB token is currently connected to;
  • the software is currently activated and running on using the CL-based license.

The actual number of "seats" available is defined by your license(s).

If, for some reason, the license becomes unavailable (it expires, Internet connection is lost in case of the CL license, the USB token is disconnected, etc.), the software may still keep working for some time. If the license doesn’t become available again after a reasonable period of time, the software will be "paused" and you’ll see an error message popup.

Once the connection to the license is reestablished (the license is renewed, the USB token is reattached or the access to the CL license is restored), the software can resume its operations.

If there is no possibility to restore the availability of the license, the application can be terminated only by the process termination.

Please note that, if the number of workstations running the software under the cloud-based (Sentinel CL) license is exceeded, the workstation the software has been used on for the longest period of time may be deactivated. It’s advised to plan the software use to avoid interruptions of mission critical tasks.